And so it goes . . .

1. 78

   Natalie Frankposted 6 years ago

   Views continue to go up, CPM and earning continue to keep going down to where i'm barely over a dollar a day and haven't a chance in hell of hitting payout this month.  I can't help getting the feeling that some kind of funny business must be going on as no matter what explanations are being given it has seemed my earning have been kept artificially at about $50 every month regardless of traffic, ad impressions, cpm or number of articles published.  Now it's even worse.  I have already found myself beginning to distance myself from HP and focusing on other sites which aren't having these kinds of problems.  Really, really discouraged.  Can't help but wonder if this has something to do with using us to keep the inflated promises made to the increasing numbers they are recruiting at Maven.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      My views fluctuate a bit during each month, but the CPMs remain consistent, except for a slight drop in the summers. It will be interesting to see how your views and CPMs change or do not change from now until the spring. I hope they become more encouraging.

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2. 62

   paradigmsearchposted 6 years ago

   I don't blame HP, reason being I've been seeing AdSense being equally spastic as well.
   
   [Update] Be a heck of a note if advertisers are losing enthusiasm for the internet.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Last year I made payout on Adsense every month...since the beginning of this year?  I'm down to pennies most days.  It's unbelievable that it could drop that much.  Yes, views are less, but I'm still averaging about 3,000 daily...so I don't get what's happening with Adsense.

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3. 82

   Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

   I understand your frustration. I don't blame you for wanting to write where the money is better. January is a low CPM month and always have been the lowest.

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4. 85

   jansharesposted 6 years ago

   It's that time of year, Natalie. Disheartening, yes. But, hang in there, CPMs will go back up. It's the nature of the beast. But if you're right, I'll come back and say, "You were right! We're all suckas!" But I don't thinks so.

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   1. 78

      Natalie Frankposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps, but the last two Januaries my traffic was up.

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      1. 85

         jansharesposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Mmmm, good observation. The country is also in a very precarious place at the moment, i.e., the economy, the government furlough, etc.

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5. 61

   CYong74posted 6 years ago

   AdSense is pretty abysmal at the moment too.

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6. 82

   Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

   Yes. It is pretty low.

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7. 98

   Susana Sposted 6 years ago

   The lower the views you get the higher the CPM. It's because you get the highest value ads to start with and you never get to the lower priced ones which would even out the CPM because you don't get enough views to do so.
   
   So if you get 100 views per day your CPM might look crazy high at $20 or more but it isn't actually what you would get for 1000 views, it's just that in the ad auction the highest value ads were placed first.
   
   Things even out once you get to a few thousand views per day. At that point you'd be looking at $4-$10 CPM on average unless you're writing about products or services where a lot of commercial businesses will be competing for ad space.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I disagree.  Right now my views are decent for the time of year, but my Adsense has dropped to practically nothing compared to what it was.  I've had Adsense days that go fara beyond the figures you just quoted...there's some problem apparently because there's no reason for what is happening right now.

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      1. 62

         paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         My AdSense dropped dead last week as well. Contemplating just letting the HP Ad Program ride for the rest of the month. Needless to say, I'll be keeping my beady little eyes on the CPM.

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         1. 62

            EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            I was thinking of switching back to HubPages ad program as well. The thing is though I have enough funds on AdSense that at this point I just want to get one payment. So I stick with it for now.

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               paradigmsearchposted 6 years agoin reply to this

               Been there. Done that.
               
               With AdSense, you never know when one of those spikes will come along. With 10 days to go, you have a shot.

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      2. 98

         Susana Sposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         I'm talking about HP's ad program (rather than adsense) and attempting to explain how ad bidding works. The figures are averages for non-commercial topics such as psychology which is what Natalie writes about.
         
         This time of year is the lowest in terms of ad spend and consequently ad revenue for publishers so that's the reason for low adsense income right now.
         
         HP's CPM's are actually pretty good compared to every other year I have data for - they're about double in fact - so it may be worth switching over.

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8. 66

   lobobrandonposted 6 years ago

   I would disagree with Susana on you receiving a higher CPM with lower traffic because even though what she says is how it works, it would be across the network and not based on any individual hubbers traffic. On days when the entire network has lower traffic, it's very likely that we all have higher CPMs.
   
   Natalie, which niche sites are getting you the most traffic and is the source predominantly search traffic? Those numbers are really low.

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   1. 98

      Susana Sposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      If it's not that then it might be that HP's ad network has some kind of scale for CPM compared to traffic. It's something I've pondered a lot over the years. It might make sense to give those with lower traffic levels more per view to keep them motivated to write more?
      
      I know from seeing huge traffic fluctuations on my own account, and going by what others have said, that CPM's are higher with less traffic.
      
      I've been in situations where I was earning the same with e.g. 5k or 8k hits per day. You expect almost double the daily income but it just doesn't happen and it is demoralising.
      
      Explaining why that's the case is tricky without knowing how HP's ad system works specifically.
      
      It's puzzling.

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      1. 66

         lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         It definitely is demoralising and I usually have the same thing happen to me. But not always. In the summer with an increase in traffic, I also have an increase in CPM. Would be cool if someone from the team explains all the parameters that go into determining the CPM one receives.

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            Susana Sposted 6 years agoin reply to this

            Maybe you're getting more clicks in the summer because people are looking to buy stuff and that boosts your CPM.

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      psycheskinnerposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think inter-hubber variation stops the factors that make traffic and CPM have a negative correlation.  That is--the more traffic there is the lower down the list we go to the lower paying ads.  Our traffic individually is affected by the overall amount of traffic on the internet and the overall  amount advertisers want to pay due to time of year etc.

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         lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

         Yup, this is what I intended to say. I was pointing out that it's not individual hubber based.

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9. 62

   EricFarmer8xposted 6 years ago

   I do not follow my CPMs too much right now as my traffic is low but things seem to be about the same everyday. I only really notice any earnings with clicks right now.

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10. 65

    eugbugposted 6 years ago

    But isn't the CPM that HubPages quotes, the value after earnings are calculated? So for instance if you get 1000 impressions and earn $5, then the average CPM is $5. But just imagine only 10 of those impressions had generated the $5 and the other 990 had generated practically nothing. Then all of a sudden the next day you get 2000 impressions and expect to earn $10. But you may still only be getting 10 impressions that earn $5, and the additional 1000 impressions generate very little, so average CPM is now $5 /2000 x 1000 = $2.50.

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    1. 66

       lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       No. You are considering the ads are all CPC and then HP pays from the CPC ads through a CPM program. They have CPM ads in the mix too (or just CPM ads in the mix)

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       1. 70

          Eurofileposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          I find the whole earning system on Hub Pages is still a bit of a mystery to me. I just try to keep on writing in the hope that eventually I might make something from it. But there's going to be a time when eventually I will have to give up and try elsewhere.

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             DrMark1961posted 6 years agoin reply to this

             Dont give up too quickly. It will probably take a year to make payout every month, and that is only if you are writing something every day. (No, I do not mean publishing every day. I mean working an hour or two on your next article.)

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                Eurofileposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                That's my aim, to write a little a day, when life doesn't get in the way. Thanks for the encouragement. It means a lot.

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                1. 62

                   EricFarmer8xposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                   You have to think as things like an advertiser. People pay for ads on the web. They pay based on multiple factors. Such as views, clicks, etc.
                   
                   We the writers get paid to host the ads people pay for. The idea is people will view content based around those ads and be likely to click on them.
                   
                   There are also contextual based ads. Ads based on things the ad platform thinks you like that follow you around everywhere. Unless you stop this tracking.
                   
                   Of course now people have ad blindness but that is another topic in itself on how efficient online advertising really is.
                   
                   What people are talking about is the cost of the ads. To us writers this is our earnings. Now of course the advertisers get some of these earnings as well.
                   
                   Basically HubPages pays you per so many views because somebody paid for ads to be shown that many views. HubPages keeps things simple and only talks about pay per 1000 views or CPM.
                   
                   On AdSense you can buy ads based on clicks. So people will talk about the cost of a click. Certain advertisers will pay more money for clicks than others. Thus we would be paid more money as well. AdSense is a bit more confusing as they show you a lot more detail but there are guides to make the terms make more sense.

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                   1. 70

                      Eurofileposted 6 years agoin reply to this

                      Thanks for taking the time to explain the system. I appreciate it.

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11. 82

    Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

    But, what is the stable datum we can operate on knowing we will make decent money? Move your articles over to the niche sites, and write excellent articles that generate tons of views, right?

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12. 94

    ziyenaposted 6 years ago

    Ditto Kenna McHugh.  Most of mine are niche and half in top page placements .  I've checked the percentages on Google Trends for some of my topics with different angles on search phrases and it gives me numbers in the hundreds and some even in the thousands per monthly views, and of course, I'm astounded.  I receive zilch in those numbers in comparison to overall totals based on stats.  I question whether Natalie isn't too far off the mark in some of her thoughts.  I could be wrong … I could be right  - in what I'm pondering.  Best to keep it to myself  and  finish my third glass of wine.  Here's to Seven Years on HubPages.  Happy Anniversary to me.  Nothing like the goodness of a viticulture buzzzzzz

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       lobobrandonposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       Congrats on the anniversary

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          ziyenaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

          Thank You

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13. 82

    Kenna McHughposted 6 years ago

    Cheers!

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       ziyenaposted 6 years agoin reply to this

       

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